NETWORK-AWARE COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20100205251A1
• Filed: 02/09/2009
• Published: 08/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus Software, Inc. (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Walia, Harpreet Singh, Dutta, Arijit
• Granted Patent: US 8,224,900 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information

Abstract

Apparatus, systems, and methods may operate to detect a device connecting to a network, determine the identity of the network, and publish a status indication to at least one of a list of active contacts or a list of inactive contacts. The list of active contacts may be selected from an original list of contacts, based on the identity of the network and a personal rule set associated with a user of the device. The list of inactive contacts may be included in the original list and not included in the list of active contacts. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a device;

at least one of a device driver or an operating system to detect the device connecting to a network, and to determine an identity of the network; and

a processor to publish a status indication associated with a user of the device to at least one of a list of active contacts and a list of inactive contacts, the list of active contacts selected from an original list of contacts and based on the identity of the network and a personal rule set associated with the user, the list of inactive contacts included in the original list and not included in the list of active contacts.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a messenger module to receive the active list.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a memory to store the original list of contacts and the personal rule set.

4. A system, comprising:

a first device having at least one of a device driver or an operating system to detect the device connecting to a network and to determine an identity of the network, and a processor to publish a status indication associated with a user of the device to at least one of a list of active contacts and a list of inactive contacts, the list of active contacts selected from an original list of contacts and based on the identity of the network and a personal rule set associated with the user, the list of inactive contacts included in the original list and not included in the list of active contacts; and

a second device to receive the status indication from the first device.

5. The system of claim 4, further comprising:

a server to store the original list of contacts.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the first and second devices each comprise a messenger module.

7. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

detecting a device connecting to a network;

determining an identity of the network; and

publishing a status indication to a list of active contacts selected from an original list of contacts, the list of active contacts based on the identity of the network and a personal rule set associated with a user of the device.

8. The method of claim 7, comprising:

hiding identification of members of a list of inactive contacts included in the original list, and not included in the list of active contacts.

9. The method of claim 7, comprising:

generating at least one of an audio alert or a visual alert when an inactive contact in the original list that is not included in the list of active contacts attempts to establish communication with the device.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the personal rule set comprises:

a set of one or more rules defining a relationship between members of the list of active contacts and the identity of the network as at least one of a named network or a network type.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the personal rule set comprises:

a set of one or more rules defining a grouping relationship between members of the list of active contacts, the grouping relationship established based on content in fields of an address book.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the personal rule set comprises:

a set of one or more rules defining a relationship between members of the list of active contacts and tag information.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the personal rule set comprises:

one or more rules having a hierarchy of precedence.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the network identity comprises an identity of a cellular telephone network.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein network identity comprises a name of a network associated with a range of uniform resource locator addresses.

16. The method of claim 7, comprising:

receiving attempted communication from an inactive contact in the original list that is not included in the list of active contacts; and

responding to the attempted communication with an automated status message.

17. The method of claim 7, comprising:

receiving attempted communication from a contact in the original list that is not included in the list of active contacts; and

rejecting the attempted communication.

18. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

detecting a device connecting to a network;

determining an identity of the network; and

publishing a status indication to at least one of a list of active contacts or a list of inactive contacts, the list of active contacts selected from an original list of contacts and based on the identity of the network and a personal rule set associated with a user of the device, the list of inactive contacts included in the original list and not included in the list of active contacts.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the status indication comprises at least one of off-line, busy, at home, or at work.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the publishing comprises:

publishing the status indication as a first status and a second status different from the first status, the first status published to the list of active contacts, and the second status published to the list of inactive contacts.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first status is one of at work or at home, and the second status is one of busy or off-line.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the personal rule set comprises:

a set of one or more rules defining a relationship between members of the list of active contacts and grouping information included in an instant messaging address book.

23. The method of claim 18, comprising:

receiving a request at the device for emergency services; and

publishing an alert message on the device responsive to the request.

24. The method of claim 18, comprising:

receiving a connection configuration option to determine network change communication operations.